God is

A devotee of Ramana Maharshi, who had been with him about twenty-five years, had a son that died, and he was grief-stricken. So he begged to have an audience with Ramana. Now Ramana rests from twelve to two. He agreed to see his devotee. When the devotee entered the hall, Ramana was reclining on his couch with his eyes closed, and he started to cry and tell him all his troubles, how much he loved his son. And then he asked Ramana, "What is God?" Ramana didn't answer. He kept still for about fifteen minutes. Then he opened his eyes and he said very softly, "What is, is God."

As we progress we find there never was a God, so there never was a world. But for the sake of talking, because God is, the universe is. Everything, from the lowliest microbe to the fullest galaxy, is God in expression. Everything is God. Every leaf, every piece of clay, every star, every planet has no basis for its existence, by itself. Because God is, everything else is. That's what Ramana meant when he answered, "What is, is God." He was trying to explain to the devotee, "Your son dying, that is God. Your son living, that is God. There's no real difference. Only in your mind."

We differentiate only in the mind. If the mind were made quiescent, quiet, there would be no differentiation between death and life. We make the differentiation because we think. It's a mental concept that someone dies, and that's bad, but someone lives and that's good. There's no such differentiation. There is only God, and everything that exists, everything, is God. There can be nothing apart from God. But then I say that God doesn't exist, except in your mind. That is the reason that, in reality, no thing exists. Do you follow that?

As long as you think, there will be existence, person, place and thing, but when you stop thinking there's no room for existence, because there cannot be the silence and existence. Everything that appears to be opposes the silence. The silence is consciousness, absolute reality, sat-chit-ananda.

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If he told the devotee that only the Self exists, and your son didn't die because he was never born, it would be too much for the devotee to comprehend. Therefore, instead, he said, "God is. What is, is God." It made the devotee feel better, for he realized that his son was in God's hands, and all is well.

- Robert Adams